Thursday, July 23, 2015

More on Geothermal Energy in British Columbia

The article below recently surfaced via the Vancouver Sun. As a person who has been a large proponent of Geothermal energy and a former consultant with the United States Department of Energy (US DOE), I have been advocating that BC MUST start developing geothermal power for years. Every other country in the ring of fire uses this abundant, clean and reliable/renewable source of energy, except Canada.

Our current BC Geothermal Resources Act, a BC statute, reads like a manual for keeping geothermal development to a minimal. Our provincial policies and processes are not conducive for geothermal companies to work in BC, nor have our politicians taken the necessary steps to start this clean and renewable energy industry in BC.

When I ran as an MLA candidate, my platform was strongly advocating the use of geothermal power instead of options like Site C or Fossils Fuels. If BC begins to use electric cars en masse, we will need a huge increase in power. even without, we can develop and sell power to other jurisdictions to replace their reliance on fossil fuels.

That's the conclusion of a recent Kerr Wood Leidal Associates study on theeconomic viability of geothermal resources in B.C., which considered nineof the most favourable geothermal sites in the province.

There are no geothermal energy projects operating in B.C. but the studyestimated the cost per kilowatt hour for the nine sites would range from6.9 to 7.1 cents for Pebble Creek and Meager Creek near Pemberton to 17.6cents for Clarke Lake near Fort Nelson.

BC Hydro senior strategic technology specialist Alex Tu said some of theprojects appear promising but stressed the cost estimates are still "veryuncertain" and carry a lot of risk.

"Even though it says seven cents a kilowatt hour, it's still a riskyproposition," he said. "All the geothermal in the province is still lookedat as very uncertain and very high risk but if you can make the projecthappen, seven cents is a good price."

Tu noted BC Hydro invested tens of millions of dollars drilling at the twoPemberton area sites in the 1970s and 1980s but could only produce enoughsteam for a 20-kilowatt demonstration facility that operated for 18months.

Geothermal power facilities work by drilling into the earth andredirecting steam or hot water into turbines that convert the energy fromthe fluid into electricity.

Tu said Hydro has always been open to geothermal power as an alternativeenergy source but no geothermal projects have ever been submitted to Hydroin any of its calls for power from independent power producers.

Hydro's standing offer program offers to pay producers $100 a megawatthour for smaller energy projects of up to 15 megawatts. The two Pembertonarea geothermal sites each have estimated capacities of 50 to 100megawatts.

Borealis GeoPower chief geologist Craig Dunn, whose Calgary-based firmhopes to build two geothermal power plants in B.C. by 2018, said he wasexcited by the Kerr Wood study, which was commissioned by BC Hydro andGeoscience BC.

"I think it's a giant step forward in recognizing that geothermal is aviable energy opportunity for the province of British Columbia," he said.

Dunn said the drilling and turbine technology associated with geothermalpower continues to improve, making that form of energy more economicallyviable than ever.

"As a private developer, I know that my costs are significantly less thanthe estimates," he said.

Tu estimated the cost of the two proposed Borealis geothermal sites nearValemount and Terrace at about $120 to $140 a megawatt hour but Dunn saidcurrent drilling economics — with many drilling rigs now inactive due tothe oil industry slowdown — could cut that estimate by 25 to 50 per cent.

"We look forward to working with BC Hydro within the standing offerprogram pricing (of $100 a megawatt hour)," he said. "We believe that wecan be economic."

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